Better Than Chocolate Read Online Free PDF Page B

Stefani’s “Sweet Escape”—told her it was Cecily and she grabbed it
like a lifeline. “Cec, we… Oh, I’m going to pass out. Where’s a bag?” She rifled
through desk drawers, but came up all she came up with was an old cigar, paper
clips, rubber bands and—what was this? A stress ball. She scooped it up and
strangled it.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “We— The bank. Oh, my God, I can’t believe this!” Samantha
wailed, and burst into tears.
    Now she’d made so much noise that Elena had rushed into the
office. “What’s going on?” One look at Samantha and the blood drained from her
face. “Madre de Dios.”
    “Get me chocolate,” Samantha panted, and squeezed the stress
ball again. These things were useless. She threw it across the room and grabbed
a fistful of hair as Elena rushed off to find a dose of restorative
chocolate.
    “Sam, tell me what’s going on,” Cecily demanded.
    “The bank is calling in their note. As if everything wasn’t
already enough of a mess. As if we didn’t already owe the whole friggin’ world!
My God, what did I ever do to deserve this? Is it because I bossed you guys
around when we were little? I’m sorry. And I shouldn’t have stood up Tony
Barrone for homecoming. No, that’s not it. It’s because I yelled at Waldo.”
    “Sam, please,” Cecily pleaded. “You’re scaring me.”
    Be afraid. Be very afraid. What old
movie was that from? Probably one where everybody died.
    Samantha laid her head on the desk and pulled a newspaper over
her. Now she understood why the groundhog went back underground when it saw its
shadow. She wished she could dig a hole and pull it in after herself and never
come out.
    From a distance her sister called, “Sam? Sam!”
    “I give up,” she moaned, pulling the phone under her paper tent
and back to her ear. “I surrender. Match me up with a millionaire. I just want
to lie around on a yacht somewhere in the Mediterranean and drink
ChocoVine.”
    “No, you don’t,” Cecily said firmly. “You’re not wired that way
and you’d be bored out of your mind in a week.”
    “I’m not wired for this, ” Samantha
whimpered.
    “It’s going to be okay.”
    Elena was back now, slipping an open box of truffles under the
newspaper.
    “Thank you,” Samantha said. She shoved a handful in her
mouth.
    Elena lifted a corner of the paper and peered under it. “What
else do you need?”
    “A new life.” Samantha pulled the newspaper off her head and
forced herself to sit up and push her hair out of her eyes. “I’m fine,” she told
both Elena and herself. “Just a temporary meltdown.”
    Her secretary hovered, looking doubtful.
    “Really. It’s okay.” What a big, fat liar she was.
    Elena still looked dubious, but she got the hint and left,
shutting the door behind her.
    Samantha picked up her phone. “Okay. I’m okay now.” No, she
wasn’t. Who was she kidding? Where were they going to get that kind of
money?
    “Maybe you could go over to the bank and charm the new guy in
charge into giving you a little more time,” Cecily suggested.
    They’d given her a little more time. Very little. “This is
business. Charm doesn’t enter into it.” Damn.
    “Charm enters into business more than you realize,” Cecily
said.
    Samantha sighed. “You’re right. I’ll have to go over there and
talk to the new manager. Sweet Dreams is a vital part of the town’s economy.
It’s in everyone’s interest for the bank to work with us and help us get through
this rough patch.” That was exactly what she’d say to him. Rules could be bent
if everyone benefited in the long run.
    She took a deep cleansing breath and told herself she felt
better already. Big, fat liar.
    “There you go,” Cecily said encouragingly.
    “And I’ll take him some of our wares,” Samantha decided. “Who
doesn’t like chocolate?”
    “Charm and bribery, a businesswoman’s best friends.”
    Samantha sure hoped so. She thanked her sister for the shrink
session,